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Hogs slip by USC
Key error opens big inning for Arkansas, and USC’s postseason hopes take a hit
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A pair of misplayed double-play balls on Friday night put Arkansas in a six-run hole, but the Razorbacks recovered to win.
On Saturday, South Carolina was not so lucky.
The Gamecocks threw away a double play in Arkansas’ four-run seventh, and they never recovered as the Razorbacks clinched a series win with a 6-3 victory at Baum Stadium.
The series concludes at 1 p.m. today.
Thought to be a shoo-in to land an NCAA regional berth, 17th-ranked South Carolina (34-17, 13-13 SEC) may have some work to do today — and in next week’s SEC series finale against Tennessee — to qualify for the SEC tournament.
Only the top eight SEC teams advance to the league tournament, which begins May 21 in Hoover, Ala.
South Carolina and Kentucky are tied for eighth, a half game ahead of Arkansas (30-20, 12-13).
“We’ve got to battle back,” South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. “Blake Cooper starts for us and we’ve got to go back and regroup tonight and be ready to go (today).”
They have a lot to regroup from after losing Friday’s heartbreaker on a game-ending grand slam, then falling Saturday — mainly as a result of their lone error.
USC shortstop Reese Havens, whose seventh-inning home run off Mike Bolsinger gave the Gamecocks a 3-2 lead, committed the seventh-inning error that gave Arkansas new life and wasted a superb pitching effort by USC’s Nick Godwin.
With two runners aboard and one out in the seventh, Arkansas’ Tim Smalling drove in Logan Forsythe to tie the game at 3-3 and set up the game’s key play. Jeff Nutt followed with a grounder to USC second baseman Scott Wingo, who relayed to Havens to get an out. But the throw to first was off the mark and allowed the go-ahead run to score.
Later in the inning, Sean Jones hit a looping RBI single that glanced off Wingo’s outstretched glove, and Ben Tschepikow plated another run two batters later with a an infield single for the final margin.
On Friday night it was Forsythe, Arkansas’ third baseman, who committed a throwing error that turned a potential inning-ending double play into a five-run inning for USC. Forsythe went 2-for-4 Saturday — including an RBI single in the fourth and a single to start the Razorbacks’ four-run, seventh-inning rally.
“It’s kind of how the game works, especially in the SEC,” Forsythe said. “Everybody is going to make an error no matter how good you are. It’s a matter of when you do it and if you can recover from it. Luckily we were able to hold them off today.”
“It certainly hurt us,” Tanner said of the would-be double play. “That double play ball would have kept the game at one right there. Nick Godwin pitched a great game for us. We just weren’t able to push across enough runs. He gave us a chance to win today. But that four-run seventh really did us in.”
So did Bolsinger, who scattered two singles after Havens’ homer.
“Bolsinger did a nice job in relief,” Tanner said. “We had double digits (11) in hits but only three runs. Arkansas only got seven hits, but they came up with some very key hits.”
Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn agreed: “We took advantage of some of their mistakes and we made the plays we needed to make.”
